24 Hours at Lariat Ridge

I woke up to a quiet house on Thursday morning. After working out and waiting for the railing people to come and install the railing I left Austin midmorning to join the rest of my clan. They were already at Carol's along with cousins Quinn, Ava and Cade. And of course Carol and her three dogs, Kerby, Tory and Sadie. Nicolle and Michelle are in the Galapagos.

I got there in time to help Carol change the pedals on her bike (from clip-ons to regular) and scrub one stubborn board on the deck that still leaks pine sap in huge quantities three years after becoming a part of the deck.  The kids swam. Then it was puzzle time - we worked on a pretty simple one for 9+ year olds that kicked our butts. While Cade and Evan napped unwillingly but soundly. By the time we finished, we lost Vivian and Ava who went outside looking for beetles and other insects (Vivian to admire them, Ava to stomp on them). Then all the kids went out and arrayed themselves at the bottom of the driveway while Quinn biked up and down like he had just won a motocross championship (he had a dream that he had the night before). Vivian (wrapped in a sarong in the first photo) "interviewed" him.  

Then I put up an awesome flag that Aaron had brought over for his mother last month. He made it out of wood and painted it and Beth distressed it. I hung it with quadruple redundancy on the string and double redundancy on the hardware. So that future distressing will be due to sunshine and weather and not due to 12 foot falls on unsuspecting children's heads.

Then the kids went back to the pool (a hard day around here) and I headed down the hill with my chainsaw. The drought and the brutal summer from three years ago killed several trees. Many were still standing. Till the recent rains and wind storms. After I finished sawing one downed tree a huge hornet stung me. Hard enough to draw blood and leave my left arm stinging from finger tip to shoulder. I packed up my tools for the day.

This morning Jo left for Austin while Carol enlisted the kids to drag some brush from past chain saw massacres down to the driveway. We have not had a burn due to dry windy conditions and the dead wood is piling up everywhere. Carol and I decided that we could do a controlled burn on the driveway away from other vegetation and close to a water hose.  The flame in the photo is about 10-15 feet tall. Controlled but not small. While the kids were helping me I got a picture of the littlest cousins taking a buddy pee together.

Afterwards Ava, Vivian, Cade and Evan went inside to draw. Vivian made paper slippers (called "sliders" because they are like slippers but they are better at sliding. While Quinn and I watched Costa Rica beat Italy. Then we headed home to Austin in Nicolle's very large automobile. Outside Austin I got nailed by a cop on a motorcycle but he pulled up the car behind me (people in Expeditions don't speed).  

When we reached home, as I pulled into the driveway, Vivian announced that we were back at our "blanca wooden casa". And I noticed that I didn't have house keys (they were with my car at Carol's) and Jo wasn't home. My whole left arm had swollen up so much that I didn't have a a weenus (Jen's name for the folds of skin at one's elbow). And I needed to pee like a race horse.

But the back door was unlocked and there was Benadryl at home and it all ended well. Except for the weenus - still waiting for that to reappear.